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Naturally, Bill Nye the Science Guy does not make s'mores like a mere mortal. He uses liquid nitrogen, and the results are delicious and kind of dangerous. The post Here’s how to make s’mores, Bill Nye style [video] appeared first on Holy Kaw!.

Everyone has off days, but luckily, most people don't have to worry about them being caught on live television Whether it's a simple slip of the tongue or a anchor's sledding accident — seriously stop trying to sled while you report the news — there's always the potential for the coverage to become the actual disaster See also: Dancing news anchor strikes again with 'Shake It Off' This compilation put together by Unilad is a nice reminder to cherish the relative privacy of your embarrassing moments News Reporting F*ck Ups Some absolutely amazing news reporting f*ck ups. Posted by…

The professional social network hopes to spread its most popular content (and LinkedIn branding).LinkedIn's most popular posts are often penned by its "Influencers," who are usually notable entrepreneurs and public figures—and, in some cases, their ghostwriters. That content has thus far been republished to digital outlets manually, on a case-by-case basis, but LinkedIn's latest idea is to move those posts past the confines of its site in a more official capacity. According to Re/code, the professional networking service is looking to syndicate content from Influencers to other sites around…

Manhattan, 2040: Alice wants to open an antiques store. Chelsea seems like a good location. She has to find 150 square meters to move the items that she has collected over the years, and to go on a tour of flea markets in Eastern Europe, her area of expertise. She needs to finance the imports. The problem? She doesn’t have enough money to get started. Read More

There’s an increasing gulf between the privacy of individuals and that of corporations and monopolies. An individual is almost certainly going be videotaped every time he leaves home. You will be caught on camera in the store, at the airport and on the street. Your calls to various organizations will also be recorded “for quality purposes.” At the same time, it’s against the law to film animal cruelty on farms in many states. And if you say to a customer service rep, “I’m taping this call,” you’re likely to be met with hostility or even a dead line. Kudos, then, to police…

Naturally, Bill Nye the Science Guy does not make s'mores like a mere mortal. He uses liquid nitrogen, and the results are delicious and kind of dangerous. The post Here’s how to make s’mores, Bill Nye style [video] appeared first on Holy Kaw!.

Bill Nye is almost universally loved on the internet. Almost. In this clip, Bill Nye reads some of the mean things people have said about him online, because that's the kind of tough science guy he is. The post Bill Nye reads mean tweets about himself [video] appeared first on Holy Kaw!.

You know those gauge earrings that people wear? The ones that stretch people's ears? Have you ever wondered what happens when people don't want to wear the earrings anymore? Here's how those holes get fixed. The post How massive earring holes are fixed [video] appeared first on Holy Kaw!.

The performers on Comedy Central's roasts are told to be edgy, to take risks. Norm MacDonald knew he wasn't the type to push the envelope like some other comedians, so he took his own risk: he read from a book of crummy old jokes. And he stuck to it. The result was beautiful, awkward, hilarious, and horrifying. The post Norm MacDonald’s Bob Saget roast was gutsy and brilliant [video] appeared first on Holy Kaw!.

Everyone has off days, but luckily, most people don't have to worry about them being caught on live television Whether it's a simple slip of the tongue or a anchor's sledding accident — seriously stop trying to sled while you report the news — there's always the potential for the coverage to become the actual disaster See also: Dancing news anchor strikes again with 'Shake It Off' This compilation put together by Unilad is a nice reminder to cherish the relative privacy of your embarrassing moments News Reporting F*ck Ups Some absolutely amazing news reporting f*ck ups. Posted by…

Zimbabwean officials on Sunday said they're looking for a second American citizen accused of illegally killing a lion. Jan Casmir Sieski, a resident of Murrysville, Pennsylvania, allegedly took part in an illegal hunt in April near Hwange National Park See also: Cecil the lion's brother Jericho is not dead The hunt was organized by a Zimbabwean named Headman Sibanda, reportedly the owner of a safari company, and allegedly conducted without a permit. Sibanda has reportedly been arrested and is helping officials investigate what happened during the hunt Sieski reportedly used a bow and arrow to…

If you're going to use words as ammunition, make sure you're not just giving your opponent material. In the two weeks leading up to current UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey's fight with Bethe Correia at UFC 190 in Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian challenger set the mood with some trash talk. Relations between the two fighters are icy at best, and, according to the LA Times, Correia has even used Rousey's father's suicide to taunt her opponent See also: Ronda Rousey has a colorful response for the body-shamers out there FOX Sports reports that Rousey couldn't understand Correia's…

One of the most iconic symbols of metropolitan life brought a little nature to New York City Saturday night when filmmakers projected images of endangered species on the Empire State Building Cecil the lion, whose death sparked international outrage, was included in the display along with eagles, leopards, monkeys and manta rays lighting up the Manhattan skyline See also: Cecil the Lion's death opens question of why illegal poaching of protected animals is still so common Louie Psihoyos, director of the Oscar-winning film exploring dolphin hunting in JapanThe Cove, conceived this project,…

Cilla Black, a famous British singer, died on Saturday at her home in Estepona, Spain. She was 72. Her death was announced on Sunday by Spanish police. See also: Dave Grohl responds to 1,000 rockers who played 'Learn to Fly' Black, who was born in Liverpool as Priscilla White, had a show business career that lasted around half a century Twitter users expressed condolences and remembered her for her talent PM: Cilla Black was a huge talent who made a significant contribution to public life in Britain. My thoughts are with her family. — UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) August 2, 2015 So…

The professional social network hopes to spread its most popular content (and LinkedIn branding).LinkedIn's most popular posts are often penned by its "Influencers," who are usually notable entrepreneurs and public figures—and, in some cases, their ghostwriters. That content has thus far been republished to digital outlets manually, on a case-by-case basis, but LinkedIn's latest idea is to move those posts past the confines of its site in a more official capacity. According to Re/code, the professional networking service is looking to syndicate content from Influencers to other sites around…

Uber's valuation matches that of Facebook in 2011, the only other startup to have topped $50 billion.Five years after its launch, Uber is valued at more than $50 billion. The ride-sharing company just announced a new funding round, in which it raised nearly $1 billion.Read Full Story

Toyoi Yuuta's subtly immersive animations perfectly capture the dichotomy of Japanese culture.Part of the beauty of Japanese culture is the integration of the modern with the traditional. Bullet trains, robotics, and some of the most cutting-edge technology being developed in the world exist alongside feudal architecture and age-old customs. Even inside the brightly buzzing cities, there's an underlying sense of tranquility in Japanese lifestyle and aesthetic.Read Full Story

The creator of the Macintosh's early typefaces and icons will join Pinterest as product design lead.Susan Kare, the legendary designer behind the original Mac's icons and fonts (and, more recently, a killer set of pixel art tits for Cards Against Humanity), is hoisting her pirate flag at a new Silicon Valley company: PinterestRead Full Story

The Congressional Black Caucus is meeting with some of Silicon Valley's biggest names.The tech industry's hiring practices are attracting government attention. Next week, the Congressional Black Caucus's diversity task force is meeting with executives from Apple, Google, Bloomberg, Intel, Kapor, Pandora, and SAP to demand the companies hire more African-Americans.Read Full Story

Manhattan, 2040: Alice wants to open an antiques store. Chelsea seems like a good location. She has to find 150 square meters to move the items that she has collected over the years, and to go on a tour of flea markets in Eastern Europe, her area of expertise. She needs to finance the imports. The problem? She doesn’t have enough money to get started. Read More

It’s still early days in the bacteria becomes our food production process. However, several Silicon Valley scientists are creating lab-grown edibles of the truly bizarre or mixing up animal substitutes based on some interesting ingredients. Here are 10 of them. Read More

“We’re watching you.” This was the warning that the Chicago Police Department gave to more than 400 people on its “Heat List.” The list, an attempt to identify the people most likely to commit violent crime in the city, was created with a predictive algorithm that focused on factors including, per the Chicago Tribune, “his or her acquaintances and their… Read More

Startups start with talent, and the talent, as we all know, seems to get younger every year. But it wouldn’t happen if children themselves were not introduced to the word of technology and engineering early, and shown that it can be a fun, creative environment. For the last 6 years, a pioneer of this in the UK has been Young Rewired State, a non-profit founded by Emma Mulqueeny, which… Read More

TechCrunch interviews Eileen Burbidge, Partner at London VC firm Passion Capital, where we discuss her early days working at Skype and Apple, the types of startups she invests in, her close ties to the U.K. government, the upcoming EU in-out referendum, and women in technology. Read More

There’s an increasing gulf between the privacy of individuals and that of corporations and monopolies. An individual is almost certainly going be videotaped every time he leaves home. You will be caught on camera in the store, at the airport and on the street. Your calls to various organizations will also be recorded “for quality purposes.” At the same time, it’s against the law to film animal cruelty on farms in many states. And if you say to a customer service rep, “I’m taping this call,” you’re likely to be met with hostility or even a dead line. Kudos, then, to police…

Don't jerk people around Here's a simple marketing strategy for a smaller company trying to compete in a big-company world: Choose your customers, trust them, treat them well. Say yes. Bend the rules. Show up on time. Keep your promises. Don't exert power merely because you can. Be human, be kind, pay attention, smile. Not everyone deserves this sort of treatment, not everyone will do their part to be the kind of customer you can delight and serve. But that's okay, you don't need everyone. When in doubt, be the anti-airline.

Just about everyone can imagine what it would be like to add 10% more to their output, to be 10% better or faster. Many people can envision what their world would be like if they were twice as good, if the work was twice as insightful or useful or urgent. But ten times? It's really difficult to imagine what you would do with ten times as many employees, or ten times the assets or ten times the audience. And yet imagining it is often the first step to getting there.

I sat through an endless presentation by the CEO of a fast-growing company. He was doing fine for half an hour, but then, when his time was up, he chose to spend 45 minutes more on his final slide, haranguing and invecting, jumping from topic to topic and basically bringing the entire group to its knees in frustration. Power, of course, is the first problem. When things are going fairly well, the CEO has a ton of power, and often, that power makes things appear to work, even when they're not the right thing to do for the long-term. As a result, there's no market that is correcting the bad…

An expected apology rarely makes things better. But an expected apology that never arrives can make things worse. An expected thank you note rarely satifies. But an expected thank you that never arrives can make things worse. On the other hand, the unexpected praise or apology, the one that comes out of the blue, can change everything. It's easier than ever to reach out and speak up. Sad, then, how rarely we do it when it's not expected.

There has been a definite shift in the blogosphere over the last 12 or so months, and I’ve heard story after story of people who feel a real sense of transition in the air. Blogging can take a toll on the strongest of people, what with its 24-hour cycle, it’s relentless need to be updated, and its ability to totally take over your life if you let it. What I’ve noticed, though, is how hard it is for people to let go. Either to let go of their blogs completely, or to let go of the parts of blogging that don’t serve them (me included!). It could be fear holding them…

Congratulations! You’ve made it to Day 31. Hopefully you’ve found some of the challenges over this last 31 days to be useful. Thousands have completed the program over the years and I’ve heard so much great feedback, but there’s one thing I’d like to share with you today on the podcast. What’s the key to really getting the most out of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog? And how do you do that? I share all! You will need a calendar set up somewhere so make sure you have one you can use before you get going with today’s challenge. Nothing will change if you…

Almost the last day! While yesterday we looked to the future to build a plan to find readers, today we’re going to dig into our stats to find out what kind of effect the last 29 days have had on our sites. What can you see is different after the changes you’ve made? Some of you will be seasoned pros at looking at your stats, but if you’re newer to blogging and want some starting points, these are the metrics I recommend you keep track of regularly as you go on with your blogging. In the show notes I also link to a post I published recently that gives you an overview of how I…

We’re getting to the end of our time together, and in these last few days I like to look to the future and see how we can use what we’ve learned over the last few weeks on our blogs. Today’s challenge is a simple one, although it might take you a bit of time, but it shouldn’t be skipped. We’re going to switch from creating content and the day-to-day of building community with our readers, and do things that are a little more long-term and strategic. Today is all about growing your readership. I’ll discuss some of the drawbacks of focusing solely on content…

It’s writing challenge day! For some of you, this will be “business as usual”, as review posts are already part of your repertoire. For others, it will be something quite new. In today’s episode we discuss why review posts are even something to consider. They can be useful for many reasons, not just for the reader who may be researching a decision, but also for you and your blog too – not the least of which could lead to monetization. I built my first commercial blog 100% around reviews! We’ll also discuss the reasons for and against having reviews on your…

Whether you have vinyl records handed down to you, you’re a DJ, or you’re getting into vinyl for the first time, you’ll need a good record player. One that’s reliable, durable, and easy to maintain. This week we’re looking at five of the best, based on your nominations.Read more...

Whether you keep your lawn pristine because you love the look and feel of it, or you just maintain it because your HOA tells you to, this guide has suggestions to keep your lawn happy and healthy, along with a full month-by-month schedule.Read more...

Shep McAllister, Commerce Team on Deals, shared by Shep McAllister, Commerce Team to Lifehacker

2 Aug 2015 | 5:54 am

Here are the best of today’s deals. Get every great deal every day on Kinja Deals, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to never miss a deal, join us on Kinja Gear to read about great products, and on Kinja Co-Op to help us find the best.Read more...

Chinese phone repair company GeekBar has shared a series of three photos today (via Nowhereelse.fr) showing what is claimed to be a display assembly for the upcoming "iPhone 6s". While the photos do not confirm that the device will be equipped with Force Touch sensing as has been rumored, they do appear slightly different from the corresponding parts for the iPhone 6. Meanwhile, M.I.C Gadget shares a few photos of what it says is a prototype version of the iPhone 6s. The device is not shown turned on and the photos themselves do not reveal any differences compared to the iPhone 6, but the…

We're all curious about how many Apple Watches Apple has sold, but with the company opting not to break out its Apple Watch sales numbers, all we have to go on are analyst guesses, information distilled from third-party sources, and tidbits of data that Apple has provided. The latest data that hints at how the Apple Watch has fared comes from The Wall Street Journal, citing shipment information provided by analyst Mark Li from Taiwan's Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE) most recent earnings call. ASE is the company that builds the S1 package housing the many chips and sensors used…

A year after teaming up with Apple on an enterprise partnership to push iOS devices and apps for business users, IBM is moving forward with plans to rapidly move its own employees onto Apple's platforms, MacRumors has learned. While IBM announced in an internal memo several months ago that it was planning to purchase up to 50,000 MacBooks for employees by the end of 2015, chief information officer Jeff Smith has revealed in a new internal video released to employees yesterday that he believes IBM could actually end up purchasing 150,000-200,000 Macs annually. In the video, Smith relates a…

Earlier this month, rumors suggested Apple had been in talks with BMW about potentially using the body of the electric BMW i3 as the basis for its Apple Car, but those talks did not progress into a deal. Reuters has now spoken with some inside sources at BMW, giving us more insight into what the two companies discussed and where their relationship might lead in the future. Apple CEO Tim Cook and other senior executives visited the BMW factory in Leipzig, Germany in 2014 to look into how the i3 is manufactured. According to Reuters' source, Apple left the talks without reaching a deal with BMW…

Elgato, with its Eve line of smart home products is one of the first companies to come out with home accessories that integrate with Apple's HomeKit home automation platform, and it's the very first company to produce a Bluetooth-enabled HomeKit product. The Eve system, which consists of a weather station, an indoor room monitor, a door/window sensor, and a smart outlet, is one of five HomeKit-compatible products that became available for purchase in June. With the Eve components just now shipping out to customers, Elgato invited us to review the lineup to get a feel for what's possible with…

The air inside the Brooklyn Bowl smells like well worn leather, sawdust, and evidently hops (from the nearby Brooklyn Brewery, but I’ll get back to them). All around me are authentic Coney Island early 20th century amusement park props, like the tin targets from shooting galleries. There’s a band putting their gear together onstage for an evening event, lots of percussion and fewer amps, so I’m guessing it’ll be some kind of folk or world music. In front of me, Charley Ryan, cofounder of the Brooklyn Bowl (with partner Peter Shapiro) is pressing his business card into…

My son, Harold, is huge into video games and video game culture. He knows more weird and deep-level memes and obscure details than you’ll ever know. Harold has convinced me to take him to the SCG Convention in Texas. To say he’s hyped and excited is to really underplay how he feels about it. As part of this, I’ve encouraged Harold to do as much of the planning and deciding as possible. Harold chose the Aloft hotel chain. Swell by me. He picked it because he loved the videos. I prepaid for the days of the conference. And then, I ran into a snag.Continue ReadingThe post…

I’m sprawled out on my bed writing to you. My son is reading a copy of Retro Gamer and my daughter is playing Splatoon (it’s a Wii game that your kid probably wants). Lately, I’ve been thinking about this blog, about you, about my business, about what I stand for. That kind of stuff. The Biggest Competitive Advantage I Have is Openness and Honesty But that sounds like I’m trying to be virtuous. I’m not. I just think it’s easier/better/faster to just tell you what I think and feel, instead of worrying. Continue ReadingThe post The Biggest Competitive…

My son, Harold, found out quite by surprise that he really likes puppets. He pretty much had to have this Kermit the Frog puppet. What we did with it was quite interesting. And in the process, I found myself thinking about me, then you, and about us. About all of us. And about something I’m not sure I’ve yet shared in this specific way. The Magic of Puppets When you put a puppet on your hand, you empower someone else to speak for you. You can say things you might not say from your own lips. Because hey, it’s a puppet. Puppets are like a super power.Continue ReadingThe post…

I’m a big fan of the work of Dr Nick Morgan. In my circles, when people ask me advice about how to be a better professional speaker, I tell a somewhat backhanded and loving story about how I paid for a day of Dr. Morgan’s time, hellbent on having him make me a much better speaker. I loved everything he had to say. It was brilliant, full of really important details and ideas. And I couldn’t really make good use of any of it. Dr. Morgan mentions it in this post. For instance, “The good news for you conference organizers, then, is that if you hire Chris you’ll get…

Even though it may seem like starting to write is the most difficult part of the content creation process, just starting is not good enough. As writers, we also need to have both a strong vision and unwavering confidence that enable us to complete, publish, and promote our projects. To support you as you create your next piece of content — whether it’s your website’s cornerstone content or your email autoresponder series — this week’s Copyblogger Collection is a series of three handpicked articles that show you: How to identify and overcome the factors that keep you from…

You create a successful product when you deliver something people want to buy, simple as that. Is there a way to figure out what people want before spending a ton of time and money? There is a way, and it’s becoming more and more popular due to the lean startup movement. It’s called the minimum viable product approach. The technical definition of minimum viable product (MVP) is a product with the highest return on investment versus risk. And the way you minimize risk related to your investment of time and money is basically figuring out if people want to buy that product. Most lean…

As creatives, freelancers, entrepreneurs, and Showrunners, we have a tendency to get an idea, follow our gut, and jump straight into it without planning. The Showrunner hosts Jerod Morris and Jonny Nastor agree that this can sometimes be necessary, but not always the best plan. Jerod and Jonny begin this episode with a quick discussion about the upcoming Podcast Movement conference and how you can join them without flying to Texas. Then they dive into the topic of the week: how much research is enough and how much is too much? As you will learn in this episode, this is more art than science,…

Today’s guest on Hack the Entrepreneur has started several successful businesses, written three books, is a motivational speaker, and has consulted with companies in several different industries. He coaches teams and businesses on the actions required in order to grow. As a result, he is known as the entertainer, educator, and consultant of choice for America’s leading companies. He is the founder of Thrive 15, an online education and practical training platform for entrepreneurs, which is taught by millionaires, mentors, and everyday success stories. Now, let’s hack ……

So many businesses focus solely on getting the sale, but as far as the customer is concerned … the sale is just the beginning. What comes next can make or break not just that one customer relationship, but the future viability of your business as a whole. In this episode of The Mainframe, Chris Garrett and Tony Clark reveal: Why your onboarding process is as important, or maybe more, than your sales process The impact that good and bad onboarding processes have on your business Why you should go beyond merely delivering your product to a customer, and focus on the user experience he has…

How well is the Apple Watch selling? Apple isn’t saying much, but that hasn’t kept Bernstein Research anaylist Mark Li from trying to find out. According to the Wall Street Journal, a subsidiary of Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) and one of Apple’s suppliers for the Watch told investors that it fell short of a “break-even” number of shipments of its Apple Watch components during the second quarter, and it expects to fall short again in the third quarter. According to Li, it’s very rare for a company to fall short of “break-even” shipments in the third quarter, given…

Let us now harken back, if you will, all the way to those heady days of the spring of 2014. Val Kilmer was the Ice Man, college dorm rooms were grooving to the sounds of Peter Gabriel’s So and the entire country was soon to be mesmerized by the baby stuck in a well.Wait, that was 1986. Sorry, it just seems so long ago that we were being told how Xiaomi was going to kill Apple in China, the United States and, eventually, the off-world colonies. Because it’s just obvious that everyone wants cheap phones and they care about literally nothing else. This much we can all agree on.To read this…

Apple headlines for the week ending July 31, 2015Want to see the Apple Watch in person, but the closest Apple Store is too far away? Head on over to your nearest Best Buy. That’s one of the headlines in this week’s news review. You can see all the important headlines here in this slideshow. Want to get more details on a story? Click on the link.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

The Apple Car is taking another lap on the rumor circuit, with a new report from Reuters that Apple execs visited BMW last year to find out more about how BMW makes the (very cool) i3 electric car. “Apple executives were impressed with the fact that we abandoned traditional approaches to car making and started afresh. It chimed with the way they do things too,” an unnamed source at BMW told Reuters. According to the report, Tim Cook visited BMW’s headquarters in 2014 and asked the carmaker’s board members very detailed questions about production of its i3 electric vehicles, which…

Windows 10—bear with me—has shipped, but this column isn’t about the new operating system, which has received generally positive reviews from our friends at PCWorld and elsewhere. Rather, it’s about a feature that started receiving attention a few weeks before release and more on the ship date: Wi-Fi Sense. Wi-Fi Sense allows Windows 10 users to connect automatically to open Wi-Fi networks, as well as to share access to Wi-Fi networks for which they have passwords. The former isn’t controversial at all: iOS allows carriers to set up automatic connections to networks they run or…

Alexa, the chatty personality that makes the Amazon Echo smart speaker so fun and handy, wants to join more devices. The company announced Friday the launch of its free Alexa Voice Service (AVS) developer preview.AVS was born out of the company’s work on the Echo, which may be Amazon’s best hardware product since its Kindle e-reader. The device is a voice-controlled cylindrical appliance that can tell you the weather, give you traffic conditions on your commute, play music, control connected lights and other appliances, and—of course—buy things from Amazon. See also: Amazon…

Looks like Microsoft's Windows 10 debut is a hit: The new version of the operating system, which launched Wednesday, now powers more than 14 million devices, the company says.But not everyone is thrilled with the new software. In an open letter to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Mozilla CEO Chris Beard called out Windows 10 for foisting the company’s own media-playback apps and Edge Web browser. See also: What Mozilla's WebAssembly Means: More Powerful Web AppsThe latter is obviously a sore spot for the Firefox maker, but the whole scenario could be a grave concern for other…

This post appears courtesy of the Ferenstein Wire, a syndicated news service. Publishing partners may edit posts. For inquiries, please email author and publisher Gregory FerensteinBitcoin, the digital currency infamous for wild swings in value and black market transactions, could have profound implications for the future of public services. Tech optimists at the highest levels of government are exploring how the same technology that makes bitcoin anonymous could make government services less bureaucratic and more secure from hackers. I spoke with Brian Forde, MIT Media Labs' new…

Guest author Robert J. Moore is the CEO of RJMetrics, a provider of business intelligence to online companies.Much of the growth in software-as-a-service companies is being driven by a “land and expand” strategy: Tools first get used by individuals, then by small teams, and so on up the organizational hierarchy. Eventually the company finds itself signing a large-scale deal, all without a competitive process or RFP. Companies like Slack and Dropbox craft their pricing models specifically to encourage this behavior—Slack knew exactly what it was doing…

Google knows a friction-free app testing and submission process can help developers keep decent apps flowing, so it just rolled out a series of improvements to the beta testing process for Google Play apps. Overall, the changes are designed to help developers manage pre-release beta tests easily, so they can "iterate faster" to develop or improve features. See also: Google's Offering Smarter Tools For Smarter Apps And HomesConsider it part of Google's recent developer outreach, which also gives app makers more finetuned ways to promote their apps once the testing is…

We always try our best to challenge your artistic abilities and produce some interesting, beautiful and creative artwork, and as designers we usually turn to different sources of inspiration. As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered the best one — desktop wallpapers that are a little more distinctive than the usual crowd. This creativity mission has been going on for seven years now, and we are very thankful to all designers who have contributed and are still diligently contributing each month. This post features free desktop wallpapers created by artists across the globe for…

Often within a project, the presentation of our content changes based on certain needs. We see this when we use media queries to change our styles based on the user device. CSS quantity queries follow the same concept of changing the styles based on a condition: the condition within a quantity query being the number of sibling elements. An example would be navigation where items are 25% wide when four items are available; yet when there are five items available, the width of the navigation items changes to 20%. This is a common problem with dynamic site frameworks like WordPress…

When it comes to CSS techniques, nobody is more stubborn and smart enough to find solutions to any problems than Lea Verou. Recently, Lea has written, designed and published "CSS Secrets", a truly fantastic book on the little CSS tricks and techniques for solving everyday problems. If you thought that you know CSS fairly well, think again: you will be surprised. In this article, we publish a few nuggets from the book, which were also presented in Lea's recent talk at SmashingConf New York — on designing simple pie charts, with CSS. Please notice that some demos might not work…

I’ve often heard there are four stages along the road to competence: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence. Most of us begin our careers “unconsciously incompetent,” or unaware of how much we don’t know. I’ll never forget the first time I moved from unconscious to conscious incompetence. I was working as an office manager at a small software company, and having been impressed by my writing skills, the director of sales and marketing asked me to throw together a press release, welcoming the new CEO.The post How…

In UX design, few things are more intricate than time and personal time management — only a good arsenal of mobile design patterns and information architecture principles can save you. This is the story of redesigning the UX for a popular calenda tool on Android: Business Calendar. We’ll cover designing systems, interaction design problems, scaling across screens and platforms, research, and big business decisions and their outcomes. Business Calendar started out as a side project, a one-man show, and is now run by a team of eight in Berlin. The app was very successful…

Thousands of California acres are ablaze as firefighters battle at least 21 wildfires throughout the state, but while many of those fires are small or contained, the wind and heat that are spreading the Rocky Fire in Northern California -- and the area's steep terrain -- are causing the most concern.

The Obama administration will unveil a major climate change plan Monday aimed at a large reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the nation's coal-burning power plants, a senior administration official told CNN.

Some are calling it our best episode ever. I was getting texts during the first 20 minutes or so saying the same thing, but I have to tell you, the first 20 minutes are…well…I’m not sure what it was, but there was a lot of laughing (and dating tips). I think it must have been something in the water (or in Brad’s beard) that kind of took the train off the tracks for a while, but we eventually pulled it together and Roberto shared some really great stuff — he was really awesome. Our topic was based on my blog post from Monday called “If you were only allowed 10 pieces of…

How Do I Do That In Lightroom? eBook Giveaway! You saw it announced here earlier this week… Now it’s time to give some away! Leave a comment for your chance to win one of three free How Do I Do That In Lightroom? eBooks from Scott Kelby! What’s that? We have three free The Headshot by Peter Hurley eBooks as well? Great! Leave a comment for your chance to win one of these too! Photoshop World Photoshop World is right around the corner! If you’re in the Las Vegas area and want to swing on by, we’d love to see you. You can still get FREE Expo Only passes by…

Not Every Shoot Is A Winner Here’s the scenario: You go do a shoot, download the images, go through the take, pick the keepers, do your editing, and deliver the shots. The client loves them… But you don’t. They’re okay, but they don’t quite send you to your happy place. Sound familiar? If it does, I have some good news for you. You’re not alone. Is there anything wrong with this shot? Not technically, but it’s not winning any awards. I would guess that most photographers go through this, even the best ones. No matter how much we try to make the best possible images we…

Hi Gang: The video above kind of explains what the book is about, but I thought I’d take 30-seconds to define both, so you know which one is for you (and, of course, I’m hoping one of them is for you. And your friends. And family. And strangers you meet on the street. Etc.). My existing Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers It’s designed to teach you Lightroom from the ground up, and its focus is on workflow, and teaching you all the awesome stuff that Lightroom does so you can fall in love with it like about a bazillion photographers around the world already have. Here are the links…

…that was a question posted on my Facebook page by Are Knudsen, a photographer from Norway. Why the question? Well, I kicked off a new monthly Q&A column in Shutterbug magazine a few months ago (they named it “Ask a Pro”), but essentially I answer questions posed by Shutterbug’s readers along with questions I get throughout the month on my blog or social media, and the column has been a lot of fun for me (and I’ve been a reader of Shutterbug for many years, so it’s also really a kick to be in their pages). As I was working on the latest installment, I…

If you’ve ever wanted to photograph a bottle (beer, wine, soda, ever water) and make it look like they do in the magazines or advertisements you’ll want to watch this! In this video tutorial Lee Morris from Fstoppers shows how to light a beer bottle, step by step, one light at a time. See what each is doing as he adds them one by one. Check it out and scroll down below the video to get links to some of the gear he mentions in the video. Things mentioned in the video: Yongnuo flash Flash Disc by Fstoppers PocketWizard triggers C-stand Magmod grid Acrylic Ice Rock Cubes 3 Lbs Bag,…

Packing and carrying equipment for travel adventures is always a challenge. With increasing airline restrictions and not being willing to check your gear, you need to find the best possible alternative for your needs. Like most of my peers, I covet several bags. Usually when going abroad I take a bag with all the equipment and a smaller, second bag for everyday outings once on location. As I tend to travel lighter and lighter every day, I was on the lookout for a bag that could serve dual purposes for my recent Italy trip. I wanted a bag that could carry my two Fuji X bodies, some lenses, a…

Milky Way over the Belgian countryside – Sony RX100, 28mm equivalent f/1.8 + LPR (Light Pollution Reduction) filter, ISO 6400. Panorama composed of 12×3 frames, each frame is the image average of four different photos Photography in low-light conditions is one of the most challenging things to do with a camera. In conditions with faint, moving, distant lights it is even trickier. There is something about a starry sky that simply inspires awe in all of us. And it does so more often since light pollution is getting worst all around the world. I wonder how many children have seen The…

Old cars – look around you, they’re everywhere. By PoL Úbeda Hervàs Weekly Photography Challenge – Old Cars Admit it – photographers love old things. The more battered, torn, peeling, weathered, falling down, beat up, rusted, broken and just in generally poor condition an item is – the more we love to photograph it. Right?! Tell me I’m not alone on that? So your challenge this week is to go find an old car. It could be ancient and broken down like described above, or overhauled, in pristine condition, and well cared for by a car enthusiast. It’s…

Antique, old, rusted, archaic, crumbling, ancient, and time-worn – all words that could describe vintage vehicles. Some are in better condition than others, some in running order, others put out to pasture. Photographers love to shoot crumbling subjects. I hope you enjoy these images of old cars: Plymouth by Aaron J. Groen on 500px Old memories by László Gál on 500px Old Metal by Meagan V. Blazier on 500px P L Y M O U T H by Liban Yusuf on 500px Rusted Car in Flowers by Lidija Kamansky on 500px Racing through the streets of Havana by Mikko Palonkorpi on 500px Old Blue Car by…

Hitchbot might have made it across Canada, but it appears that the US wasn't quite so kind to this mechanical traveler. The hitchhiking robot's American journey has ended after a mere two weeks thanks to a vandal attack in Philadelphia. While th...

Honda has always been more than a car company. In addition to its car and motorcycle business, it also manufacturers marine vehicles, generators, a weird robot and even planes. To keep that spirit of just making as much stuff as possible alive it i...

It's sometimes hard to keep track of positions in an IndyCar race, especially if you're in the stands and don't have the luxury of a broadcaster or data stream to point things out. Never fear, though: as of this weekend, the league's cars are carry...

Already immersing yourself in Windows 10? Trying to block out the not-so-favorable memories of Windows 8? Good for you. This week involved a new smartphone from a new challenger, and several new smartphone from a once-dominant player. And we don't...

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Tesla's Model S got a lot of press when Elon Musk unveiled a "Ludicrous" upgrade that goes from 0-60 in 2...

See that? That's the high water mark to date for my dual-purpose creativity with a speedlight case. Being padded, I use it as a thermos for my station-purchased beverage when home-bound from New York City on the train.(Works totally ace, BTW.)But that bar just got seriously upped today by the LumoPro LP742 "LightSwitch" speedlight case. Read more »

This photo is 100% flash, 0% ambient. But it almost looks like the reverse. And for this portrait of soprano Robin Steitz, a timeless available-light look was what we were going for.But when you are working with flash (a single speedlight) and controlling your light (a scrounged "fill blanket" from the couch) you can keep the best of both worlds of strobe and ambient. Read more »

Several folks have asked for more specifics on the Seattle GPP Pop-Up. So here's the long version.Gulf Photo Plus is widely regarded as one of the best photo weeks... well, anywhere. And deservedly so. Every year, people attend from dozens of countries all over the world.The problem is that GPP is held in Dubai, which is an awful long way for most westerners to travel.But each year Gulf Photo Plus holds a Pop-Up event somewhere other than Dubai. In 2013 they were in London, and in 2014 it was Singapore. This year, for the first time, a GPP Pop-Up is being held in the US. It's scheduled for…

I seldom review gadgets these days, but sometimes something is so useful that it's worth telling people about. Such is the case with the SD card-enabled Western Digital My Passport Wireless hard drive.Read more »

UPDATE: Several folks have asked me for more information on the content of the weekend. I can't speak for everyone else, but here is a detailed look at where we are going in my session. -DHI teach very infrequently now, at most just once or twice a year. That said, without fail I attend Gulf Photo Plus in Dubai every March.It's a great event, with quality instructors and a fantastic group (family?) of people running it. But Dubai is a long way away, to be sure.So three years ago, we worked out a sort of "road version" of GPP. It's a compressed, wall-to-wall weekend that brings a bit of GPP to…

Fujifilm announced the XF 90mm F2 in May, adding a 137mm equiv. focal length to its X-system's arsenal. We've been spending some quality time outdoors with the 90mm, take a look at how it performs against real-world subjects. Read more

Born and raised in New Zealand, DPR reader Sarnim Dean has been surrounded his whole life by wildlife and landscapes many of us only dream of visiting. He explores the country on his mountain bike and with his camera. Take a look at some of his images and find out more about him in our Q&A. See gallery

The Blue Angels announced their arrival in Seattle this week as they usually do - suddenly, and with a lot of noise. While we've been able to catch glimpses of them flying over from our office windows, as they prepare for a local maritime festival. But our view is nothing like the view SeattlePI.com photographer Josh Trujillo had during their flyby yesterday afternoon. Read more

PhotoKeeper aims to provide photographers with safe cloud storage and easy access to their images from anywhere. While there's no shortage of websites providing free storage for photos, PhotoKeeper goes beyond the standard offerings and tailors its product to photographers. Are its features worth the price? Read review

Samsung has announced the start of mass-production of its S5K3P3 image sensor for mobile devices. The new chip is 20 percent thinner than previous generations. At under 5mm thickness, the new sensor can be used in ultra-thin smartphones without creating the protruding camera modules we've seen on some of the latest Samsung Galaxy models. Read more

Each time you jump over to Photoshop, it usually creates a copy of your photo and saves it alongside the original in PSD or TIFF format (depending on what you chose in Lightroom’s External Editing preferences), even if you never made a change to it in Photoshop. If you’re like me, you probably had a hundred or more of these PSDs or TIFFs with no visible changes, just taking up space on your drive and in Lightroom. If you still haven’t gotten rid of them, here’s what to do: (1) Go to the Library module, and in the Catalog panel, click on All Photographs. (2) Up in the Library…

So I thought I would walk you through a quick edit and let you in on my thoughts. Starting image… reset to just the RAW image for you to see all the steps. (I have a preset that is applied on import usually.) The first step that sets the tone for the image and helps clarify the editing is getting the crop and composition how I like it. I crop to the image, not to a set ratio, but some folks prefer to keep certain ratios for printing… it is up to you. Since the main story of the image is the boy and his bike, there is a lot of extraneous area that can be cropped. For action…

Hi Gang: The video above kind of explains what the book is about, but I thought I’d take 30-seconds to define both, so you know which one is for you (and, of course, I’m hoping one of them is for you. And your friends. And family. And strangers you meet on the street. Etc.). My existing Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers It’s designed to teach you Lightroom from the ground up, and its focus is on workflow, and teaching you all the awesome stuff that Lightroom does so you can fall in love with it like about a bazillion photographers around the world already have. Here are the links…

Hi Gang (and Happy Monday). This isn’t some earth-shattering Lightroom secret or anything, but it’s something that I do to a lot of my portraits, kind of as a finishing move, and while it’s subtle, I think it’s important. I get a lot of questions about these finishing moves, so I thought I’d share this one here today. It’s about a very quick way to brighten just your subject’s face, which is something (as I said), I do a lot. The original image is above. STEP ONE: Get the Adjustment Brush; double-click on the word “Effects” to reset all…

Happy Friday everybody. Here’s a tip on how to bring your logo into Lightroom (so you can use it in slideshows, or as an identity plate, or for the title of a slideshow, or whatever), but with a transparent background behind it (that’s the cool part). Here’s how it’s done: STEP ONE: We have start over in Photoshop (any ol’ version will do). Open a new document, and then use the Place command (under the File menu) to bring in your logo, so it appears on its own layer above the background layer (as shown here). STEP TWO: Now, go to the Layers panel and drag the…

Online learning site Udemy, which offers classes on a wide range of subjects including programming, photography, Photoshop, writing, and more, is today debuting a new iOS 9 Developer Course that aims to teach students how to use Xcode 7 and Swift 2 to make iOS apps. Designed to be a comprehensive tutorial on app development for iOS 9 for complete beginners, the course includes a total of 28 hours of video lectures that cover topics like the Swift language, Xcode, SpriteKit, Inputs, Buttons, Reactive Interfaces, Navigation, Storage, Live Content, Images, Accelerometers, Motion Feedback, iAds,…

Dashlane today announced an update to its existing iPhone app alongside the launch of an all-new Apple Watch experience, both of which bring the service's one-tap password changing feature from desktop to Apple's mobile and wearable devices. Dashlane unveiled the Password Changer feature late last year for the desktop, which allowed users to change multiple passwords at once so they can more easily update their password info if any of their data is ever breached. Today's updates extend that sense of security for Dashlane users to iPhone and Apple Watch, which the company says is completely…

Apple today announced a Snapchat account for Apple Music that initially provides a behind-the-scenes look at Beats 1 Radio and its personalities while also showing off segments of the cities it operates from with some music playing in the background. It's unknown what kind of content the account will provide in the future. The account's first Snapchat "story", which is the combination of multiple photos and videos taken throughout its first day of operation, takes followers on a journey from Beats 1's Los Angeles HQ with Zane Lowe, watching as he works on his show before it switches to London…

Popular calendar app Fantastical 2 for iPhone was today updated to version 2.4, adding a useful new feature that allows users to create event drafts. With drafts, it's possible to start creating an event or Reminder and then swipe downwards to save it as a draft, setting it aside to multitask and access other events on the calendar. For example, if you start scheduling a lunch meeting but need to pause in the middle to check your afternoon schedule, there's no need to discard what you've written entirely -- you can save it as a draft, check the calendar, and come back to it. Draft posts are…

Continuing on with its stream of exclusive content, Apple Music is today premiering the video for Keith Richards' latest single, "Trouble." The video is exclusively available through Apple Music Connect on Keith Richards' page on the artist-focused social networking site. Because the video is shared on Apple Music Connect, it does not require an Apple Music subscription to watch. Designed to let fans connect with artists, Apple Music Connect's content is all available for free and will continue to be free after people's three-month free trials expire. Exclusive video premiere of “Trouble”…